If you’re doing Davis-Bacon or prevailing wage work that means you’re probably providing your prevailing wage employees with health benefits. And if you’re paying for health benefits, then you’re probably wondering how the Health Care Reform bill will affect you. As you may know, with the signing of the Health Care Reform bill in March of this year, there were some questions about how this would affect the economy and the citizens of the United States, not to mention the very practical effects these changes may have on prevailing wage job costs; and if there are effects, when they will take effect. According to the strict timeline laid out in the bill, some of the changes went into effect on September 23, 2010. However, they may not affect you until your health insurance renews next year.
We have found two articles that may help you better understand the changes and their impact. The first article is from Yahoo News and it reviews the changes that happened on September 23rd and how they will affect you. The second article is from the Whitehouse and it shows how the reform is meant to work, what changes are coming now and in the future and the progress that has been made.
Among some of the changes is a plans “Grandfathered” status. A “Grandfathered” plan is a plan that existed before the law was enacted on March 23 and remains essentially unchanged. What does having a “Grandfathered” plan get you? That is a good question. While some of the details are still being worked out, it essentially means that these plans must only comply with certain requirements of the law. Another change is that parents can now keep their adult children on their health plan until age 26. This means that a married or unmarried dependent can remain on their parents plan, unless they are offered coverage at work, even if they no longer live with their parents, they are not a dependent on the parents tax return, or they are no longer a student.
To read the full articles, please click on the links below:
Yahoo News Health Care Q & A